Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-05-29
Il AN N TO PREACH THE WORD"

"Yes, yes" said the first man, there
will soon be plenty of wounded and dying
there. They will all be ike the r~oOibaatjes
at BrOnker's Spruit. Lord, what a sight
that was! But, they will get the bishop,
80 they won't want you You can stop
and look after our wounded, if the roof
bsaties manage to hit any Ofus." And he
beckoned TO him to come out Of the cart.
'HullO!" said the other man, ''here is a
bag of mealies. We will commander that
anyhow" And he took his knife and cut
the line with which the sack was fastened
to the back of the cart, so that it fell to
the ground. That will feed our horses
for a week" he said, with q chuckle, in
which the other man Joined. 1t was
pleasant to become so easily possessed of
an unearned increment in the shape of 4
bag of mealies.
''Well, are we to let the old crow go?"
said the first man.
"li we don't let him 90 we shall have to
take him up to headquarters, and | want
to 90 to sleep" And he yawned.
well, let him 60" answered the other.
II think you are right. The pass said
two carts. Be off, you ID preaching
Englishman"
John did not wait for any more. but laid
the whip across the horses backs with a
will.
IL hope we did right" said the man
with the lantern to the other as the cart
bumped of. 81 am not sure he was a
parsOn after all. l have have half mind
to send a bullet after him" But his com
paniOn, who was very sleepy, gave no en-
enlargement TO the idea, so it dropped.
On the following morning, when Com
mandant Frank withdrawing heard that
his enemy John Mel was on his way up
with the Cape cart and four gray horses
a%scertained that Il vehicle answering to
that description had been allowed TO pass
through Heidelberg in the dead Of night,
his state of mind may better be imagined
than described.
As for the two s~entries, he had them
tried by courtmartial and set them TO
make Notifications for the rest of the re-
balliOn. They can neither Of them TO-
hear the pamn Of a clcrg man mentioned
without breaking out into a perfect flood
of b~lasphemy.
Luckily iOr John, although he had been
delayed for five minutes or more, he man
aged To Overtake the cart IN which he pre-
sumcd the bishop was el,rDnced. His
lOrdship bad been prOvidentiHllv delayed
by the breaking of a trace; otherwise, II Is
clear that his selEnUminatvI chaplain
would never have got through the steep
streets of Heidelberg that night. The
whole town was chOked up with Boer
wagons, full now OF sleeping Beers. Over
one patch of wagons and tentS John made
out the Transvaal flag futtcring idly in
the night breeze. and CmhlaZOned with the
appropriate emblem of al ON-wagon and
an armed B0er, marking, no doubt, the
headquarters of the tTiumvirate. Once
the cart ahead of him wa stopped by q
sentry, and some conversation ensued.
Then it went on again; and so did John,
unnOlcstCi. 1t was weary work, that
Journey through Heidelberg, and full of
terrOrs for john, who every moment eX-
pected to he stopped and dragged of ignO-
m%iniOu.' ~ to jail. The horses, too, were
dead BE-. and made frantic attempts 10
turn al top at every house. But, some
how, H.. got through the little place, and
then stopped once more. Again the
l'ISl tl.. Rpi Ol dlcth, blt llLS LlHlC JoLl
was moi W lucky.
The )lss said one cart " said q voice.
'Yah. Yah, one ,ait " answered another
John rain put on nj clerical al aud
told his rifles Illc; butt ltIor o. thr ucn
could u lerstnd English, SO hey vent to
a wager that ". sanUirE about fifty yards
away, To- fetch somebody who could.
Nov, inkOOs,' whispered the Zulu
MOuti, drive on! drive Oni'
John took the hint, and dashed the horses
with his long whip; while MOuti, bending
| forward over the splashboard, thrashed the
wheelers with Il SiambOCk. on went the
team in a spaSmOdic gallOp, and had
| covered 3 hundred yards OF ground before
the two sentries realized what had hap
pened. Then they began to run after the
cart shouting, but were soon lost in the
darkness.
John and MOIti did not spare the Viii
but pressed N mp II SONY hills on the
Pretoria side OF Heidelberg withouta halt.
They were, however, unable to keep up
with the cart ahead OF them, which was
evidently more freshly hOrsed. About
midnight, TOO, the moon vanished alto
gether, and they had to creep on as best
the could though the darkness. Indeed,
so dark was it, that MOuti was obliged to
get out and lead the exhausted horses, one
of which would now and again fall down.
and have 10 be cruelty logged before it
would rise. Once, too, the cart very nearly
upset; and OF another occasion was within
an inch or two Of rolling down a precipice.
This went on till two in the morning,
when John found that it was impossible to
yet the wearied beasts a yard farther. SO,
having luckily come to some water about
fifteen miles out of Heidelberg, he halted,
and, having let the horses drink, gave
them as much forage Us they could eat.
One lay down al onCe, and refused to touch
anything-a sure sign of great exhaustion;
another ate lying down; but the other two
filled themselves in q satisfactory way.
Then came q weary wait for the dawn.
NOuti slept a little, but John did not dare
to do so. All he could do was to eat a lit
tie 'biltOng' ldFied game flesh and bread,
drink some squareface and water, and then
sit down in the cart, his rifle between his
knees, and wait for the light. At last it
came, lying on the eastern sky like a
promise, and he once more fed the horses.
And now a new difficulty arose. The
animal that would not eat was clearly too
weak to pull, 80 the harness had to be
altered, and the three sound animals har-
messed unicorn fashion, while the sick one
was fastened to the rear of the cart. Then
they got off again.
By eleven o'clock they reached a hotel,
or wayside house, known as Ferguson's,
and situate about twenty miles from
Pretoria. 1t wssempty, except for couple
Of cats aud a stray dog. The inhabitants
had evidently fed from the Beers. Here
John stabbed and fed his horses, giving
them all that remained of the forage; and
then, once more, started on for the last
stage, The road was Dreadful; and he
knew that the country must be full of
hostile Beers, but fortunately he met none.
1t took him four houfs to get over the